Govt announces 13 new Smart Cities, Lucknow tops list

The central government recently announced the names of 13 more cities to be developed as smart cities, taking the total count to 33. Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh topped a fast-track competition conducted for 23 cities by the government.

The other selected cities are Warangal in Telangana, Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Raipur, New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur in Bihar, Panaji, Port Blair, Imphal, Ranchi, Agartala and Faridabad in Haryana.

The 13 cities have proposed total investment of Rs 30,229 crore. The 20 cities on the original list had proposed Rs 50,802 crore. Mathura and Rai Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir will be allowed to participate in the smart city competition.

The government in January set the ball rolling on its flagship 100 smart cities plan by announcing the first list of 20. Bhubaneswar topped the city challenge competition. The government then offered a fast-track window for 23 cities rejected in the first round to upgrade their proposals and resubmit them by April 15.